Sunday, 16 November 2014

I started this blog in December of 2007, and it's been a long ride. There have been ups, and there have been downs. Mostly there have been ups. Being creative, in whatever shape or form it might be - photography, paper crafts, party hosting, digi scrap or interior decorating, is incredibly important in my life. It is what relaxes me, what gets me excited, and what makes me feel like I am actually good at something in this world. Having had a place to share my joys has been so very gratifying and I am eternally grateful for all the love I have been shown throughout the years here on the blog.

But life doesn't always go as smoothly as planned. Sometimes life takes you on a crazy and exhausting ride. As you might know, I have been on such a ride for over a year now. I have been trying to get through a really tough time due to burnout, exhaustion, and depression, and it has forced me to change large parts of my life. Part of that was to go low tech and log off the computer, to allow myself to "just be" and not feel like I have to perform and excel in everything I do. I struggled with this for the longest time, but when my computer died in a couple of months ago I finally got that last push.

So, I have quit my creative team gigs and put all my online obligations on hold. With the downtime I have felt a lot less stressed and less inclined to create content for the blog. I feel like it's ok for me to be tired at the end of the day, it's ok for me to just be me with the people I love, to not constantly try to "make and share". And to tell the truth, I like it. I like the more relaxed approach to life that is starting to peek through that high wall of performance anxiety I have built up all my life.

And as a natural result of this, I have decided to put this blog to bed.
Will I return to blogging again? Perhaps I will, but then again, perhaps I won't. I don't know what the future will bring.

Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Friends, I haven't deserted you! I am having major tech issues at the moment. Basically all my technical gadgets have decided to up and die on me these last couple of weeks. So while I hope to fix some of them (mainly my computer) very soon I hope you can forgive me for being quiet for a little while.

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Autumn is definitely here. I'm not ready. Not at all. The past two weeks have been pretty good considering, with sun and warm weather, but yesterday was the definite turn. I'm pretty sure we will be seeing the typical south Sweden autumn days with rain coming sideways, wind that goes straight through you, and bone chilling damp. So no, I'm not ready one little bit. I had to make a layout about it.

Monday, 22 September 2014

We're having a party! The husband and I are both 40 this year, and to celebrate we have invited family and friends to a cocktail party. If you know me, you know I made the invitations to the event.

The theme is as you can see black and white, with some gold thrown in for good measure. We're shooting for the oxymoron of relaxed sophistication for this thing; cocktails and bite size nibbles, glitter, and jazz music but nothing stuffy whatsoever. I think the combination of the stripes and white space with the fun font conveys that pretty well.

I hand glittered the ampersand on each invitation. It took a while, but I think it added that little bit extra. I really like how it turned out.

I also lined the envelopes with stripes to carry on the theme from the top of the invitation and threw in some of that gold confetti before I closed it up. Lining the envelops took me an eternity (I think four episodes of The Wire), but I think it was so worth it.

Friday, 12 September 2014

My days have not been the most eventful this past year. Being ill has forced me to find new routines. Now that I am working more again, there are a few of those new routines that I want to hold on to, that have helped me feel better. I want to keep my own health and well being at the top of my list. I might now feel up to all of them everyday, but I want to keep the ambition and the drive.

The list includes:breathing (not just simply breathing but breathing right)
enjoying the little things
think positively
see beauty where I look
eat well
get fresh air
listen to music
do relaxation
tell someone I love them
tell myself I love me

Monday, 8 September 2014

I admit it, I have fallen behind. I gave myself the permission to step away from scrapbooking during our summer holiday, and somehow it was very difficult to get back on it once we went back to "normal" again. I guess I was bound to hit the wall sometime, doing a continual project is a lot of work. Hitting that big goal of mine at turning forty was probably a factor in falling into a slump. I do have a new goal set - finishing the year up - and I am determined to meet it. I just needed a breather.

I have made the spreads for the first two weeks of August, so I am just going to go ahead and share them now. I can't say for sure when I am going to be up to date. I don't want to put that kind of pressure on myself. But, in any case, here they are!

Tuesday, 2 September 2014

Montjuic
We started our third day in Barcelona with a walk from El Raval up to hill Montjuic so that we could ride the cable cart. The cable cart was the husband's number one request of things to do during our stay, and who am I to say no? Although, as we got closer, I grew more and more worried that those cables would break just when we were up there.

On our way to Montjuic we passed Portal de Santa Madrona, the remains of a 14th century castle. I haven't been able to find out much about it neither in our guide books nor online, all the info I can find online talks about the saint Madrona and the church in Montjuic. Either way, it's a beautiful building.

Walking up the hill was a bit of an undertaking, because apparently we chose some kind of backroad on the side facing the water. It started out neatly gardened but looked more and more derelict the further up we got. The only people we saw on our way up were homeless people just waking up. So if you're going, go the other way up the hill. I got a bit spooked.

Once up on the top, it was beautiful, and the views over the harbour and the city were lovely. We had time for a coffee and a breather at a café overlooking the city before the cable carts opened.

We got on the first ride of the day and it turned out to be not at all as scray as I had told myself it would be. The view was spectacular.

Barceloneta
We got off at Barceloneta, right at the beach, and even though I am far from a beach and water person, I really liked it. This is a really relaxed and funky part of the city. The weather wasn't really good enough for us to want to get our kit off and hit the water, so we just wandered along the beach and the boardwalk and watched people.

Under the boardwalk we found a bunch of local elderly men who were very busy playing board games. A young girl walked by and said hello and instantly they all lost interest in the games and yelled "Hola!". It had us laughing; that latin blood apparently boils hot in all ages!

We had planned to have lunch at Kaiku, as it is said to have the best seafood in town. But, wouldn't you know it? It was closed for summer holiday. I was super bummed, and started to feel like we were really missing out on the best. Food is a great interest of ours and the one thing we spend time, energy, and money on when we travel. That many of the best foodie places were closed was a big mis step for us. But with the help of the Time Out app we found another restaurant close by; Can Ganassa at the cute little square Placa de la Barceloneta.

The food was great; we had both seafood and serrano ham with tomato bread. It was simple but well made. We found the service stressed and a bit impersonal. We also had to wait a really long time for the check despite asking for it twice. It was a good enough walk in place, but nothing I would go out of my way of to visit.

We walked around Barceloneta after lunch, and enjoyed a small street food market where the husband treated himself to churros while I drooled and felt sorry for myself.

We spent the afternoon walking around La Ribera, Barri Gotic, and El Raval, getting lost in small alleyways, and looking into fun little shops. It was nice until we got closer to La Rambla and Placa Catalunya, and all the tourists who were swarming the streets.

After another late afternoon powernap and shower, we watched a storm hover over Tibidabo for a couple of hours from the hotel roof before we set out for our last dinner of our trip.

The hunt for a place to eat dinner turned out to be an adventure; an hour's walk in pouring rain to not one or two, but three closed restaurants. Again, all of them closed for summer holiday. Those three restaurants were Quimet i Quimet, Can Lluis, and Mam i Teca. Sigh. In the end we gave up and went back to the hotel to eat in the restaurant B Lounge. The service was excellent, and the wine too. The food was fusion style tapas - a chic twist on the traditional food. I could only eat about half of what were were served, and had to beg them to make me a dessert that was lactose free. What I did eat was good, but not fantastic.

Our last day in Barcelona was spent window shopping. We hit the big shopping streets for a couple of hours until we had to take the shuttle back to the airport. I took no photos at all that day. Kind of a relief to be honest after having had the camera fixed to my face since we arrived!

In conclusion
In conclusion; it was a good and a bad experience for us. We took a chance on me being able to cope with the stress of going to a city destination and it didn't pan out all too great. I didn't do well with the crowds, and I didn't do well with the stress of filling our days in the best way. But then the good parts were really good. I am hoping that the photos we took of that will help to remind us of that in the future.

My advice would be:
- Don't go to Barcelona in August if you don't like tourists and crowds.
- Don't go in August if you are a foodie and want to go to really good restaurants.
- Don't feel like you need to visit all the big sights and museums if you only have a few days
- Don't be afraid to venture off the beaten path; there are hidden gems to be found.
- Learn a bit of Catalan. It's different from Spanish and even though you can get by with English, it will help you.
- Walk around as much as you can. We did get a two day metro pass, and used it enough to save money, but walked a lot. Walking gives you the chance to really see the city and all the beautiful details. We never do those hop on/hop off tour buses simply because we want to be in the town, not be driven around it.

If you want to see my two other posts on Barcelona, you can do so here:Day oneDay two

Monday, 1 September 2014

I have a little niece due in just a few weeks, and I wanted to make something for her arrival.
It ended up being the cutest thing I think I have made. It was a good deal of work; cutting and gluing paper, but it was so well worth it.

So the thing is a mobile with 3D balloons and clouds. I created it with digital papers from the Happy Life Mini Kit by Robyn Meierotto at Pixels and Company, some string, and an embroidery hoop.

Making the mobile is technically easy, but takes a good deal of time, energy, and patience. This is especially true if you don't have a cutting machine like Silhouette. I don't have one and it took me about 10-12 hours to make it from start to finish.

The steps to making the mobile include:
- Creating the shapes in Photoshop
- Printing 5 balloon baskets (one on each strand),10 mini clouds (making five 2D clouds, one on each strand), 40 balloons (making five 3D balloons, one on each strand), and 40 large clouds (making five 3D clouds, one on each strand)
- Folding all balloons and large clouds in half
- Assembling the 3D balloons and clouds with doublesided tape (a lot of it)
- Creating the baskets
- Assembling each strand of the mobile on an emroidery hoop with a glue gun
- Finishing up with ribbon and rings for hanging

I am very happy with the finished results. I hope the little girl will enjoy it for many years to come!